He just keeps going and playing the same way he always does.
Whatever you want to see from the 2024-25 Pittsburgh Penguins over the next 10 games as a team is probably a matter of personal preference. If you want to see them calm down with the winning and lose a few more games to solidify their chances for a better draft pick, that is certainly your choice. I get it. If you think that mindset is for losers and you want to see them finish strong because you enjoy seeing your team win games, and because nobody knows how the draft lottery is going to play out, that is also your choice. I also get it.
No matter what side of that you happen to fall on, can we at least agree on one thing and that you should be enjoying the hell out of still getting to watch Sidney Crosby play hockey every night, and that seeing him find success is still worth tuning in for? Because, folks, that guy not only still has the juice, he is still bringing it literally every single night.
He was outstanding in Sunday’s game against the Florida Panthers, outworking the defending Stanley Cup champions and again one of the league’s best teams, while also adding two more points including a ridiculous, vintage Crosby pass to set up Bryan Rust for his second goal of the game.
It is still mesmerizing to watch.
He is also still defying everything that should be happening with normal aging curves in the NHL.
Most of the focus on Crosby’s individual production this season is on his quest to reach the point-per-game mark for an NHL record 20th season. He is two points away from that mark and has been on a roll over the better part of the past two months. Since the start of February he has recorded at least one point in 15 out of 17 games, including seven games with at least two points. That includes at least two points in five of his past seven games during his current seven-game point streak. He is not slowing down as the season goes on. He keeps getting better. Which is kind of fitting given the way his career has gone. Instead of slowing down when he should be, he just keeps rolling at a level that almost no other player has reached at his age.
I think I am even more fascinated by that than I am the point-per-game record.
- During his age-35 season in 2022-23, Crosby’s 93 points were the sixth-most ever for a player in their age-35 season. The only five players ahead of him are Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Jean Ratelle, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Martin St. Louis. St. Louis is the only one in that group that topped the 93-point mark after 1995.
- During his age-36 season in 2023-24, his 94 points were the second-most ever for a player in their age-36 season, trailing only Gretzky’s 97 points during the 1996-97 season.
- This season, his age-37 season, he is already up to 78 points (which is already the ninth-most ever for a player in their age-37 season) and on pace to push 90 points. If he maintains his current pace and reaches that 90-point mark, he would be just the fifth-player to ever do so at this age. The others on the list are Joe Sakic, Johnny Buyck, Lemieux, and Gretzky.
- It gets even more impressive when you look at all of these ages together as a collective timespan. Since turning 35 Crosby has averaged 1.13 points per game in the NHL. In the history of the league, and among all players that have played at least 100 games age 35-or-older, the only two with a higher point-per-game average are Mario Lemieux (1.35 in 170 games) and Frank Mahovlich (1.16 in 149 games). Gretzky, Ratelle, Sakic, Buyck, Alex Ovechkin and Jean Beliveau are the only other players on the list over even one point per game within that age range.
That sort of career trajectory is really not supposed to happen. Players are not supposed to still be this good at this age, and only the greatest of the all-time greats are able to even come close to this. Which is also fitting because he is among that group.
If nothing else, just embrace watching him keep doing this the rest of the season, and if possible get yourself to the regular season finale on April 17 when Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are in town. Both legends of the game are still dominating and would be a great opportunity to see both of them in historic, record-setting seasons.
It is still amazing to me how both Crosby and Ovechkin entered the NHL with expectations that almost seemed unfair and unreachable, and not only have both of them consistently met those expectations, they have consistently exceeded them. They still are.